Monday, June 14, 2010

A few of our favourite things...

Miriam: I am a big fan of this Balsamic Roasted Onion & Parmesan Focaccia from Kapiti Artisan Bakehouse. Twelve minutes in the oven produces delicious warm buttery bread, just like homemade. I purchased this loaf at Nosh and brought it round to my friends Bex & Pete to enjoy with Bex's delicious chicken pie.



Libby: I've been thinking about buying an ice cream maker since reading a recipe for rhubarb ripple ice cream on the Guardian UK website. I resisted for several weeks... then on a wet, windy Wellington day I dashed out to Moore Wilson and picked up my new favourite toy: a Sunbeam Snowy! It's a reasonably basic appliance, consisting of a chilled bowl that lives in the freezer and a paddle that attaches to a motor unit in the lid. It's no Magimix with built-in compressor but it was only $60 and it does the trick! I'm yet to make the rhubarb ripple ice cream but so far have made mango frozen yoghurt and dark chocolate ice cream. Both delicious!

Becs: Mirepoix is the french term for a combination of celery, onions and carrots, and it forms the base of much of my winter cooking - soups, slow braises, pie fillings and pasta sauces to name a few. I blitz the vegetables up in the food processor and cook them gently until soft in a little butter or olive oil, adding water every now and then to stop them catching on the bottom of the pan. Sometimes I also add garlic and some herbs too, before adding the remaining ingredients in a dish such as stock or tinned tomatoes. The vegetables add depth of flavour as well as bulking it out meaning that less meat is needed. Delicious, thrifty and healthy!

1 comment:

  1. Miriam - the bread looks soooo good!
    Libby - I love my snowy - always less inspired to use it at this time of year but must crack it out again soon - I feel a batch of brandy snap ice-cream coming on!
    Becs - that combo definitely features pretty often in my winter cooking too, but I've never heard the term mirepoix before - sounds an excellent word, though!

    ReplyDelete

Related Posts Plugin for WordPress, Blogger...